Chapter Summaries

Ye Jinghua ordered food for Su Qiao and decided to visit her, while Su Qiao went hungry and was attacked by palace servants. She fought back and left the two eunuchs screaming on the ground.

• Ye Jinghua ordered pastries and roast chicken for Su Qiao and planned to visit her again.
• Su Qiao found no servants or food at noon and went out with her two chicken legs to look for money.
• Two palace maids and two eunuchs rushed at Su Qiao, knocked away her chicken legs, and taunted her.
• Su Qiao kicked the two palace maids away and beat the eunuchs for ruining her food.

Su Qiao fought off Consort Li and her attendants after they tried to attack her, and Ye Jinghua arrived as the beating ended. She was left worrying that her strength had exposed how much she differed from the frail original owner.

• Consort Li ordered her maids to seize Su Qiao and slash her face.
• Su Qiao charged at the palace attendants and knocked them down, then pinned Consort Li and beat her.
• Ye Jinghua arrived and dismissed Consort Li’s pleas for him to punish Su Qiao.
• Su Qiao realized she had broken character by fighting like someone far stronger than the original body.

Su Qiao pretended to be hurt and cried to Ye Jinghua about the chicken leg and Consort Li’s abuse. Ye Jinghua ordered Consort Li and everyone involved executed, leaving the courtyard quiet.

• Su Qiao clutched her head and claimed that the people who beat her had stolen and trampled the chicken leg Ye Jinghua had given her.
• Su Qiao tearfully accused Consort Li and her attendants of humiliating her and threatening to slash her face.
• Ye Jinghua comforted Su Qiao and promised to punish the people who had harmed her.
• Ye Jinghua ordered his men to execute everyone involved and commanded that Consort Li’s face be slashed first.
• A hidden guard gagged and dragged Consort Li away as Ye Jinghua’s men swiftly removed the others.

After Ye Jinghua beat the men who had bullied Su Qiao, he laughed with her and learned that she believed bugs in their brains caused their headaches. He gave her a food box as she left, while privately wondering how anyone could think he was a good person.

• Su Qiao said she was not scared of the beaten men because they could no longer steal her food and chicken legs.
• Ye Jinghua laughed with Su Qiao, then admitted his head hurt when she asked about the bug in his brain.
• Su Qiao said her mother had told her about the bug in her own head and promised to help remove Ye Jinghua's bug too.
• Su Qiao headed back because she was tired and hungry, and Ye Jinghua gave her a food box.
• Su Qiao called Ye Jinghua a wonderful person, and he felt heartsore that she ranked him behind her family.

Ye Jinghua arranged meals and protection for Su Qiao, while declaring that she belonged to him and deciding not to rush her. Su Qiao enjoyed the food and wondered whether Daoist Priest He came from the same place as her mother.

• Ye Jinghua ordered his people to provide Su Qiao with good meals and sent for Qing Feng to help ease her gu-poison symptoms.
• Ye Jinghua warned Xun Feng not to covet Su Qiao and said she belonged to him, but he wanted to approach her slowly so he would not scare her away.
• Ye Jinghua recalled Su Qiao's changing appearance and how her tears unsettled him.
• Su Qiao received meals from four skilled hidden guards sent by Ye Jinghua and happily ate the food.
• Su Qiao blamed the Dog Emperor, Su Yue, and Daoist Priest He for Ye Jinghua's poisoned condition, then wondered whether Daoist Priest He came from Peach Blossom Valley like her mother.

Su Qiao learned how Li Xiaolian’s jealousy and resentment helped ruin her family, then reunited with Su Baiwen when he brought her roast chicken. She turned down his offer to sneak her food every night, warning him that palace guards could use her to threaten him.

• Su Qiao learned that her mother had rescued Li Xiaolian and brought her into her service before secretly marrying Su Ruihe.
• Su Qiao learned that Li Xiaolian used her medical knowledge and poison skills to seduce Su Ruihe, who poisoned and expelled her without realizing she would survive and bear Su Yue.
• Su Baiwen returned after two days carrying a bundle and brought Su Qiao roast chicken.
• Su Baiwen offered to bring Su Qiao food every night so she would stop eating the Regent’s food, but she refused.
• Su Qiao explained that palace guards might capture her and use her to threaten Su Baiwen.

Su Qiao urged Su Baiwen to stay hidden while he trained, then gave him a powerful martial arts manual and received the medicinal herbs he had gathered. Su Baiwen also brought her satin bedding before leaving, while Su Qiao remained in the palace with her plans to remove the bug and escape.

• Su Qiao convinced Su Baiwen not to risk being discovered in the palace and promised they would leave once he improved his martial arts and she removed the bug in her head.
• Su Qiao gave Su Baiwen a Martial Arts Manual, and he eagerly decided to train so he could rescue her.
• Su Baiwen gave Su Qiao the medicinal herbs she had requested, explaining that he had taken money from wealthy landlords and merchants to buy them.
• Su Baiwen remembered another bundle and gave Su Qiao satin quilts and pillowcases, moved to tears over her difficult life in the palace.

Su Qiao reunited with her protective eldest brother, Su Baiwen, who refused to leave the Imperial Palace and promised to disguise himself. Ye Jinghua regretted missing the chance to give Su Qiao new bedding, while Xun Feng worried about the Emperor’s supposed Peerless Secret Manual.

• Su Baiwen reassured Su Qiao that he would protect her and would not let her suffer again.
• Su Qiao warned Su Baiwen that he would be discovered if he hid in the palace, but he insisted he could disguise himself as a eunuch and jumped out the window to change.
• Su Qiao replaced the bedding and ate half a roast chicken after Su Baiwen left.
• Xun Feng questioned whether the Emperor truly possessed a Peerless Secret Manual and apologized to Ye Jinghua for failing to uncover the supposed hidden forces behind it.
• Ye Jinghua complained that Xun Feng had not reminded him to change Su Qiao’s bedding, regretting that Su Baiwen had won her affection with the gesture.

Su Qiao finished preparing medicinal powders and treated the scars left by repeated blood draws, while waiting for her brother to visit. She sent her attendants away and slipped out into the night with two bottles, leaving her plans unknown.

• Ye Jinghua ordered Xun Feng to renovate Su Qiao's courtyard and replace all its furniture with the best available.
• Su Qiao spent the next day grinding medicinal herbs into powder and hid the finished supplies in bottles and a chest.
• Su Qiao applied scar-removing ointment to the wounds left by Su Yue and He Zhou's monthly blood draws, and 444 explained that her Sacred Blood made her special.
• When her brother still had not arrived, Su Qiao took two bottles and sent Fifteen and the other attendants back to their rooms.
• Su Qiao walked outside beneath the moon, thinking it was a perfect night to do something thrilling.

Su Qiao waited in the courtyard after preparing potions, but her brother, Su Baiwen, arrived and confronted Ye Jingwen. She tried to reassure her brother that Ye Jingwen had helped her, then changed the subject by complimenting Su Baiwen’s appearance.

• Su Qiao poured two potions into a vat, sprinkled powder over herself, and waited in the pavilion for poisonous creatures to arrive.
• Su Baiwen appeared while fighting Ye Jingwen outside the courtyard, then pushed Su Qiao back and told her to hide.
• Su Qiao told Su Baiwen that Ye Jingwen had come to play with her, but Su Baiwen warned her that the Ye family had killed their father and many others.
• Su Qiao argued that Ye Jingwen was a good person who had saved and helped her, and Su Baiwen agreed not to kill him but forbade him from approaching her.
• Su Qiao apologized to Ye Jingwen with a glance, then leaned close to Su Baiwen and complimented his handsome appearance.

Su Baiwen tried to warn Su Qiao against being taken in by Ye Jinghua’s looks and urged her to meet more men, while Ye Jinghua countered with food. Su Qiao eagerly ate the roast goose, and Su Baiwen rushed in to warn her it might be poisoned.

• Su Baiwen praised their mother’s beauty, then suspected Su Qiao had taken a liking to Ye Jinghua and warned her not to follow their mother’s example.
• Su Baiwen told Su Qiao she could marry several men if she returned to Grandma’s place and urged her to see more of the martial world.
• Ye Jinghua brought Su Qiao pastries and hot roast goose, which she happily carried into the pavilion and ate.
• Su Baiwen stormed into the pavilion, knocked on the table, and warned Su Qiao not to accept food from strangers in case it was poisoned.

Su Qiao reassured Su Baiwen that Ye Jinghua would not hurt her and explained that Su Yue, the Little Emperor, and a traitor surnamed He were to blame for her family’s suffering. She trusted Ye Jinghua because he had protected her and given her food, leaving Su Baiwen jealous and distressed.

• Su Baiwen scolded Su Qiao for being careless, then blamed himself when she said she had not eaten roast goose since their father’s misfortune.
• Su Qiao comforted Su Baiwen and named Su Yue, the Little Emperor, and a Taoist priest surnamed He as enemies of their family.
• Su Qiao told Su Baiwen that the man surnamed He was Su Yue’s mother’s lover and a traitor who had escaped from Peach Blossom Valley.
• Ye Jinghua asked Su Qiao why she believed he would not hurt her, and she said she trusted her instincts and recalled how he had protected and helped her.
• Su Baiwen complained that Ye Jinghua had won Su Qiao’s trust with three roast chickens, and Su Qiao called her brother silly.

Su Qiao ate the food Ye Jinghua had brought while Su Baiwen objected to their closeness and worried about her reputation. The argument was interrupted when Xun Feng spotted venomous snakes entering the courtyard and moved to protect Prince Jing.

• Su Qiao told Ye Jinghua that his kindness proved he genuinely cared for her, and he praised her cleverness.
• Su Baiwen insisted that he was Su Qiao’s real brother and argued that she should not have to marry into another family.
• Su Baiwen warned Su Qiao not to accept food from Ye Jinghua, but she shared the roast goose with him and suggested they destroy the evidence by eating it.
• Xun Feng spotted five or six venomous snakes crawling through the courtyard gate and drew his sword to protect Prince Jing.

Su Qiao used Poison Powder to gather poisonous creatures and begin refining a Gu, hoping to create a Gu King that could remove the Marrow-Devouring Gu in her mind. She told Ye Jinghua that medicine had temporarily put the Gu to sleep, keeping Su Yue and the others from killing her for now.

• Poisonous creatures swarmed into the courtyard, and Su Baiwen and Ye Jinghua rushed to protect Su Qiao.
• Su Qiao gave Su Baiwen and Ye Jinghua powder to protect themselves, then used another bottle to lure the poisonous creatures into a large water vat.
• Su Qiao covered the vat with a stone slab after the creatures had fought until nearly all movement stopped.
• Su Baiwen asked whether Su Qiao was refining Gu, and she said she needed to create a Gu King to remove the Marrow-Devouring Gu in her mind.
• Ye Jinghua asked whether the Gu was dangerous, and Su Qiao explained that medicine had temporarily put it to sleep.

Su Qiao sent Su Baiwen to gather venomous creatures so she could refine a parasite treatment, then Su Baiwen confronted Ye Jinghua and warned him to stay away from his sister. Ye Jinghua challenged Su Baiwen’s threats, while Su Baiwen insisted Su Qiao would reject him once she recovered.

• Su Qiao explained that removing the parasite too late could damage her memory and sanity, and asked Su Baiwen to gather venomous insects from the mountains and forests.
• Su Qiao gave Su Baiwen medicinal powder and instructions for refining the parasite, then sent him out before dawn to collect venomous creatures.
• After Ye Jinghua left Su Qiao’s courtyard, Su Baiwen appeared before him and warned him to stay away from his sister.
• Ye Jinghua taunted Su Baiwen and challenged him to pit his martial-world allies against Ye Jinghua’s soldiers.
• Su Baiwen insisted Su Qiao had only fallen for Ye Jinghua because the parasite muddled her mind, and said she would see through him once she recovered.

Ye Jinghua ordered his men to protect the Su siblings and conceal Peach Blossom Valley, whose shifting, guarded entrance had kept even He Zhou from finding it. That night, the King fell ill with symptoms of poisoning, and Ye Beiyao questioned whether the cause was poison or a gu.

• Su Baiwen left his sister's courtyard with four hidden guards after Ye Jinghua told him to take them along.
• Ye Jinghua ordered Xun Feng to seal off information about Peach Blossom Valley and keep Su Yue and He Zhou away from the Su siblings.
• Xun Feng told Ye Jinghua that Peach Blossom Valley's entrance was rumored to be protected by a shifting formation, which explained why He Zhou could not return.
• The King became weak, suffered pain and vomiting, and an Old Imperial Physician diagnosed him as poisoned.
• Ye Beiyao asked whether the King's illness was caused by poison or a gu.

Ye Beiyao learned that he had been poisoned and ordered He Zhou to treat him, while secretly keeping watch on the Empress and the Daoist. The next day, he rejected Su Yue's food and made clear that he wanted nothing she sent brought to him.

• Old Imperial Physician discovered that Ye Beiyao had been poisoned but could not identify or cure the poison, and Ye Beiyao ordered him to keep it secret.
• Ye Beiyao summoned Daoist Priest He, who recognized the rare poison and said it could be cured.
• Ye Beiyao ordered Dark One to watch the Empress and Daoist Priest He.
• Su Yue requested an audience with Ye Beiyao and sent him pastries and soup, but he refused to see her.
• Ye Beiyao ordered Eunuch Liu to dispose of Su Yue's food and never bring him anything she sent again.

Su Yue grew increasingly alarmed as the Emperor avoided her and her wet nurse was found dead, while Su Qiao waited for a Gu King that Su Baiwen could not provide. Ye Jinghua arranged to seek poisonous creatures in Lingnan, and Su Baiwen tried to keep his sister at a distance from him.

• Qiuyu told Su Yue that Nanny Gui had been found dead near the mass grave, apparently after smashing her head against a wall.
• Su Yue ordered Nanny Gui to be buried properly, then spent several days investigating her death without finding answers as rumors spread that she had angered the Emperor.
• Su Baiwen returned with a Gu Worm that still had not been refined into a Gu King, disappointing Su Qiao.
• Ye Jinghua offered to send people to Lingnan to search for poisonous creatures, and Su Qiao agreed.
• Su Baiwen squeezed between Su Qiao and Ye Jinghua at the table and told his sister to keep her distance from Ye Jinghua.

Su Baiwen urged Su Qiao to keep her distance from Ye Jinghua, but Ye Jinghua spat blood and Su Qiao discovered he had a strange poison. Xun Feng explained that Ye Jinghua had been poisoned for nearly three years after taking a toxic substance to kill a Gu Worm.

• Su Baiwen warned Su Qiao that seeing Ye Jinghua so often could harm her marriage prospects and urged her to roam the martial world instead.
• Su Baiwen insulted Ye Jinghua, and Ye Jinghua suddenly spat blood.
• Su Qiao told Su Baiwen to stop talking, then helped Ye Jinghua onto a couch and checked his pulse.
• Su Qiao noticed Ye Jinghua's condition was an unusual poison rather than an ordinary ailment.
• Xun Feng revealed that Ye Jinghua had taken a highly toxic poison to kill a Gu Worm nearly three years earlier, leaving him with a strange poison.

Su Qiao gave Ye Jinghua Antidote Pills to suppress his mutated poison and promised to seek a lasting cure, though she said the gu worms in her own head had to be dealt with first. She blamed Ye Jinghua for sparing Ye Beiyao and letting him remain on the throne, while Ye Jinghua and his attendants listened.

• Su Qiao gave Ye Jinghua two Antidote Pills and explained that she needed his blood to study the poison.
• Ye Jinghua swallowed the pills, and Su Qiao checked his pulse after giving him water; his condition had steadied.
• Su Qiao gave Ye Jinghua a bottle of pills to take daily and said she would seek a complete cure after addressing the gu worms in her head.
• Su Qiao warned Ye Jinghua that his poison had spread into his organs and accused him of being too soft on Ye Beiyao.
• Xun Feng and Shiwu agreed as Su Qiao criticized Ye Jinghua for becoming Regent instead of killing Ye Beiyao and taking the throne.